Startup Advisor Equity? - Pebble Watch Founder Eric Migicovsky

TL;DR

The speaker advises startup CEOs, especially first-time founders, to recruit advisors who are 3–5 years ahead in the same domain, as their experiences are still fresh and relevant. Advisors can be compensated with equity grants of 0.25%–0.75% vesting monthly over two years. The CEO must synthesize advice from multiple people and internalize it, because final decisions cannot be outsourced.

Key insights

• Advisors 3–5 years ahead of the founder in the same domain are most useful for tactical, anecdotal advice because their experiences are recent and they can reference old emails.
• Later-stage advisors are better for strategic thinking (“throw ideas around”) but less useful for domain-specific tactical tasks like hiring referrals.
• A CEO cannot outsource decision-making; they must gather input from multiple advisors and decide how to apply it to their own situation.